He referred Babar Azam as “fraud” following Pakistan's loss.
On February 23, Pakistan lost to India by six wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Earlier, the team also lost to New Zealand in the Champions Trophy 2025 opener on February 19 at home. Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar was furious after the defending champions continued their streak of poor performances. While talking on the show ‘Game On Hai‘, the pacer brutally criticised Babar Azam and his approach. He also labelled the right-handed batter as a “fraud”.
“We always compare Babar Azam to Virat Kohli. Now tell me who is hero of Virat Kohli? Sachin Tendulkar and he has scored 100 centuries and Virat is chasing his legacy, who is Babar Azam’s hero? Tuk tuk? You have picked the wrong heroes. Your thought process is wrong. You were a fraud from the beginning” stated Akhtar.
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The 49-year-old stated that discussing the performance of the current Pakistan team would be an absolute “waste of time”.
“I would not even wish to talk about Pakistan cricket team. I am only doing this because I am getting paid. This is a waste of time. This deterioration I am seeing since 2001. I have worked with the captains, whose personality used to chance thrice a day”, expressed the former pacer.
However, he was full of praise for the Indian icon Virat Kohli, who took the team over the line with his match-winning century. He addressed Kohli as the “white ball run-chaser” and “modern-day great” while applauding Kohli’s ability to perform in every match against Pakistan.
With two defeats in a row, the hosts are almost out of contention in this edition of the Champions Trophy. They will face Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on February 27 in what seems to be a dead rubber in the context of being the top two teams of Group A to advance to the semi-finals.
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